Ratings for "How I Met Your Mother" are rising in the run-up to its finale.

According to early numbers from Nielsen, the second-to-last episode of the CBS comedy series' ninth and final season scored 9.1-million viewers overall and a 3.4 among key 18-to-49-year-olds, up 17% from last week.

The rest of CBS' lineup rose as well, with "2 Broke Girls," "Mom" and "Intelligence" all gaining a tenth of a point from last week. "Mike & Molly" rose two tenths of a point, or 11%, to a 2.0.

ABC was Monday night's most-watched network, but it couldn't touch NBC among 18-to-49-year-olds.

ABC's two-hour "Dancing With the Stars" scored Monday's biggest audience (14.3 million), after which the drama "Castle" hooked 9.8 million, making for an average of 12.8-million people watching the network in prime time.

In 18-to-49, "Dancing With the Stars" earned a rating of 2.2, down 15% week-to-week, while "Castle" was down 6% to a 1.7.

"The Voice" fell 12% from last week to a rating of 3.6 and James Spader's strong 10 p.m. drama "The Blacklist" rose 7% to a 2.9. NBC's average of 3.4 in the demo was more than 60% greater than ABC's 2.1.

Fox's "Bones" and "The Following" were both flat with last week at a 1.4 each.

On the CW, "Star Crossed" was steady at a 0.3 while "Tomorrow People," also garnering a 0.3, was down a tick from last week.

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"How I Met Your Mother" will be coming to a close in 2014 after nine successful seasons on CBS. But no network in its right mind is ever willing to walk away completely from a cash cow, so that would explain why Deadline reported Wednesday that a possible "HIMYM" spinoff is currently in...